Are you ready to bake a pure joy? Trust me, try this cake once and you'll want to do it again and again ;o)
This is, so far, one of the best cakes I've ever done! The first time I made it, it was literally devoured! I had no doubts that the "Torta Africana" (which stands for African Cake) would be a success because it's a recipe from THE master Ernst Knam, the king of chocolate! But seriously, you're going to love it if you like chocolate and berries! So, let's start! Please, note that this recipe it's for a 20 cm cake (8 inches) and should serve 6 people. But trust me, you'll need a bigger one if you have 6 guests ;o) P.S. This is a gluten free cake! Ingredients for the cocoa Marquise 52 gr of egg yolks 52 gr of powdered sugar 112 gr of egg whites 105 gr of powdered sugar 45 gr of cocoa powder 15 gr of potato starch Ingredients for the chocolate mousse 150 gr of dark chocolate 300 gr of cream Ingredients for the decorations 2-3 tablespoon of strawberry jam (or raspberries) 12-16 strawbwerries (or raspberries) Directions Start with the Marquise: use an electric mixer to beat yolks and sugar until it's soft and fluffy. Then, in another bowl, make a meringue with the egg whites and the other 105 gr of powdered sugar. When the meringue is ready, incorporate it gently in the yolks and start combining with a spatula. Add in the sifted cocoa powder and the potato starch and keep stirring gently. It's important to do this slowly so that the air incorporated will keep the mixture soft. Put the mixture on a baking tray, level it up until it's about 2-3 cm high and bake for 8 minutes in a preheated oven at 200° Celsius. Take it out of the oven and immediately sprinkle some caster sugar on it (because caster sugar has a hygroscopic power. This will keep the humidity away from your Marquise). Now, it's time for the chocolate mousse. Put your chopped chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl and put it in the microwave for few seconds. Stir the semi melted chocolate and repeat until it's done (if you don't have a microwave, it'll be totally fine to do this passage in a double boiler). Now, let it cool down a little. Meanwhile, take the cream and start to whip it. Please note that you only need a semi-whipped cream! Now that the mousse' ingredients are ready, put 1/3 of the semi whipped cream into the melted chocolate and start whisking. When everything is well incorporated, put the chocolate mixture into the 2/3 of the semi whipped cream. Whisk again until it's all incorporated. Now, take your serving platter, put a cake ring (I used a 20 cm aluminium one) on it, put your cocoa Marquise in it and press gentle. Now add the chocolate mousse and try to even it out so that you'll have a flat surface. Now put it in the fridge for 3 hours or in the freezer for 40 minutes. When you're ready to take the cake out of the fridge/freezer, you can start with the decorations. Take a small pot and put the jam in it with a tsp of water (maybe you'll need another one). Be careful: you just have to warm the jam! It doesn't have to boil! At this point, you're ready to pour it on the top of your cold mousse. Level the jam up and add the strawberries/raspberries. I also added some chocolate decorations, but it's up to you :o) Keep the cake in the fridge until you're ready to serve and eat it. Enjoy this pure pleasure! This is the link of the original recipe http://www.realtimetv.it/web/molto-bene/ricette/ricette-molto-originali/africana-con-gelatina-ai-lamponi/
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Hi friends! It's been a while since I updated my blog so I want to share with you some really nice recipe. I live in Europe and in May spring totally hits us and... What's better than some spring inspired treat?
My friends and family know that I do have a crush on Meringues (really, I think I may have a problem, lol) so I bake them quite a lot when I have the chance. But cooking or baking the same thing over and over can be boring sometimes, so I decided to do something different this time. It is basically a French Meringue with crème pâtissière and some fresh berries, I put some strawberries but you can totally use raspberries, blueberries or even some kiwi fruits. No more talking... let's go to the recipe! Ingredients for the French Meringue: (it makes about 25 meringues + 4 nests) 95 gr of egg whites (*) 95 gr of caster sugar 95 gr of icing sugar vanilla extract (optional) Ingredients for the Crème Pâtissière: (you will not need the whole quantity of Crème to fill the nests) 500 ml of milk 135 gr of yolks (*) 150 gr of caster sugar 50 gr of flour (*) I used 4 small eggs: all the yolks for the Crème Pâtissière and all the egg whites for the meringues. Directions First of all, let's start with the French meringue. Place the egg whites in bowl of mixer with the whisk attachment or use an hand mixer (that's what I always do because I don't have a Kitchen Aid yet) and beat until soft peaks form. This is the most important thing to do for perfect meringues, so make sure to do it right. At this point you just have to add gradually the mixture of both the sugars (just mix them a bit in a bowl and then add the mixture to the egg whites) and keep whisking until all the sugars are well incorporated. Put some parchment paper in a baking tray first and then you can transfer your meringue into your piping bag and let the magic happen! ;o) For the nests, just pipe a disc by making a spiral and then build the height of your basket at the edge of your spiral. For the other meringues, pipe some mixture and just twirl it. Bake for 75 minutes in the pre heated oven at 110° Celsius and then let the meringues dry in the oven for a little bit more (the whole night if you can. But they will be totally delicious even if you eat them right after). For the Crème Pâtissière, start by bringing the milk plus half of the sugar (so just 75 gr) to boil. If you have it, you can definitely add some vanilla extract. Meanwhile in another bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, the other 75 gr of sugar and then whisk in the sifted flour. Once the milk is boiling, add it slowly to the egg mixture while whisking vigorously. Once all the milk is incorporated, pour everything back into a pan and bring to a gentle boil while stirring with a whisk or with a wooden spoon. Wait for about 30 seconds and then transfer the crème into a bowl (a glass one is better) and cover it with some food plastic wrap (this will prevent the cream from forming a crust). Wait until it cools down a bit and then put it in the fridge. Right before you serve your dessert, pipe some crème pâtissière into your meringue nests and add your fresh berries/strawberries/kiwi fruits. If you want, you can sprinkle some golden/maple syrup or carame/chocolatel sauce on them. Enjoy :o) |
About meWelcome to my foodie blog! I'm Silvia, a 20 something Italian girl. I'm an architecture student who likes to bake and cook. Archives
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